


Open Palms

by rtaf



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Romance, Sad, Unhealthy Relationships, somewhat happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-05
Updated: 2016-04-05
Packaged: 2018-05-31 07:13:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6460861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rtaf/pseuds/rtaf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Now he's left with open palms resting gently on the satin sheets of the empty bed, wishing Michael was there next to him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Open Palms

**Author's Note:**

> It starts off slow but gets angsty pretty quick. You're going to want to stick around.

Ray takes a bite from his sandwich, a piece of cheese falling from the side as he chews. It's a simple lunch of ham and cheese, utterly tasteless and very homemade. He'd made it minutes before leaving for school, saving it till the last minute because he was busy making up answers to his math homework.

He sets the sandwiched abomination down onto his plastic bag and sits straighter in his seat, remembering Michael's arm around his waist. Ray turns to get a closer look at what Michael's eating and whines. The cafeteria pizza looks ten times more appetizing than his own lunch. 

Michael turns at the noise, brows furrowed at Ray's longing look. He follows Ray's eyes to his food and barks out a laugh, features softening as he realizes nothing's wrong.

"Go for it," he urges, holding the slice up to Ray's mouth and letting him take a bite. 

Ray does so gratefully, making an over exaggerated, "mmm," around the morsel in his mouth to let Michael know he appreciates it. He earns a smile from the boy and the hand on his side moves up and down, rubbing his hip just slightly. Ray leans into the touch and blinks long and slow, utterly comfortable.

Michael takes a bite too and just as he sets the slice down on his plate, his cell vibrates in his pocket between them. He unwraps his arm from around Ray to check the text, skimming over it quickly while sucking the pizza sauce off of his thumb and index finger.

Ray looks over and rolls his eyes, already foreseeing the way this lunch is going to end.

Michael will glance over with an apprehensive smile and slip out of his seat, running to whoever needs him this time. Leaving Ray to sit alone for the remainder of the lunch hour. Left to entertain himself and run down the battery of his phone as he pretends to be doing things on it.

It bothers Ray more than it should, he knows he and Michael aren't official, let alone exclusive, but the way Michael touches and treats him make Ray wish otherwise.

Michael turns away, bobbing his head as he tries to find whoever he's looking for. Ray just leans forward, looking around the back of Michael's head so he can spot whoever Michael's looking at. A girl from their grade comes into view, walking across the cafeteria and wiggling her phone in their direction. 

Michael checks his texts again and chuckles, pushing up from his seat. He stuffs his hands in his pockets, looking down at Ray the same way Ray had pictured in his head.

"Sorry, Ray. Francesca wants my help with some homework in the library. I'll see you later okay? Tonight, at the dance," the boy says, already walking away while talking. He turns before Ray can say anything, darting off to Francesca's side. 

Ray watches him put his arm around the girl and has a suspicion they won't be working on anything. He pushes his sandwich away and takes Michael's tray, sliding it in front of him so he can finish the piece off.

 

\---

 

Ray lets Michael pull his body closer on the dance floor and rests his head on the boy's shoulder. He can't help it, he's got a ridiculous weakness for Michael Jones. He's hopeless when his auburn haired friend's around.

They're in the gym, surrounded by other students and not a damn teacher in sight. It's the last dance of the year and the only one Ray's bothered to come to. The overhead lights are dimmed but the cheap orange strobe ones lining the gym walls are casting off an ugly glow that hurts his eyes.

Michael leans to the right and Ray follows his lead, swaying to the beat of some slow acoustic cover, undoubtably from youtube. They fall into somewhat of a pattern, taking a slight step to the left and then right. Ray lets his nerves relax and his mind wander.

He's unsure of his feelings, not just about being so openly gay around his classmates but about relationships in general. He and Michael have been friends since junior high and he knows Michael's not a virgin, thanks to a very interesting game of truth or dare. 

He blushes at the thought of Michael naked in bed and decides to stop overthinking the situation and just focus on what's happening now. Ray blinks a few times to readjust from the gaze he'd had on the wall across from them, frowning at the feeling of Michael's hands moving behind his back. 

In typical Michael fashion, the kid is using the vantage point of hooking his chin over Ray's opposite shoulder to text. 

He shouldn't be feeling jealous but he kind of wants Michael's attention to be on him and not whoever he's texting. He reluctantly pulls away from the comfortable spot in Michael's arms and steps back, getting frustrated. The boy looks up from his phone and gives Ray a sheepish grin. From that look alone he uknows what's coming.

"I gotta get going but you should stay and have fun. I'm really sorry," Michael says, bumping Ray's shoulder with his own as he passes him. "See you on Monday, right?"

Ray watches him tuck his phone back into his pocket and tug on the zipper of his hoodie. "Sure," he answers back in a tone that makes him sound indifferent instead of disappointed.

Michael's gone in an instant, easily weaving through the people on the dance floor to get to the gym's emergency exit. He slips out the door unnoticed and Ray sighs, wondering whether or not it's worth it to call his mom for a ride home. A quick glance at the time has him deciding to walk the three blocks home.

He wishes he could resent showing up to the dance, but he doesn't. Well, only a little bit because of getting ditched early. His time with Michael, although limited, manages to once again outweigh the bad.

 

\---

 

The more Michael starts distancing himself from Ray, the more times Ryan comes to his rescue. Showing up and slipping into the empty spot beside his friend, ready to cheer him up. Ryan's in only one of Ray's classes and that's gym. Most of the Ryan's other classes are honor's or advanced. 

They usually keep their socializing to that one class but the first time Ryan looked over from his fully seated cafeteria table to see Ray sitting alone, he decided to change that.

It's a nice change of pace for Ray to have someone stick around instead of ditching him all the time or caring so much about their social status that they can't be seen with him.

Michael eventually takes notice of how close Ray and Ryan are getting. He spots them sitting hip to hip, looking at something on Ryan's phone and something bubbles up inside him. Michael suddenly feels the need to protect Ray. It's not jealousy, he tells himself, he just doesn't trust Ryan around his boy.

He doesn't cause a scene like he wants to, only ditching the conversation he's in to go take a seat across from them at the table.

"Hey guys," he greets, breaking their attention from the device and focusing it on him.

"Hey Michael," Ryan greets, while Ray just nods his head in Michael's direction to acknowledge his presence.

"What are you guys up to? Ryan showing you something nerdy?"

"Actually he's showing me this cool video about something we learned in class," Ray explains, quickly coming to Ryan's defense.

Michael's smile falters for a second but he catches himself, pasting it back on even though he sees Ryan's eyes narrow from the corner of his own. His attention is on Ray now, the boy's tone normal but Michael had felt the cool intent behind the words.

"Fun," he comments, reaching across the table to ruffle Ray's hair and watching for Ryan's reaction.

The boy looks away and Ray blushes but makes no move to push Michael's hand away. It's a tense moment and they can all feel it, but no one makes a choice to break the awkward silence.

"Nice to see you again, Ryan, I feel like I never see you anymore," Michael comments, resting his hands on his side of the bench. Hands clasped together, he sets an innocent look on his face as he waits for an answer to a question he doesn't even care about.

"School clubs," Ryan responds with a shrug and an easygoing smile.

Michael nods, catching Ray's gaze and mirroring Ryan's facial expression.

"Hey, they've got some cookie dough flavored ice cream at the counter. You want one?" he asks, purposefully only looking at Ray.

"Oh really? Uh, yeah sure. Wait how much is it?" he asks, turning to Ryan who supplies him with an answer of two fifty.

"Lemme just-"

Ray offers, reaching into his jeans for the cash.

"Don't worry about it," Michael interrupts, rising from his seat and pulling some change out of his pocket.

He walks away to get the frozen treat and smirks to himself at how quickly Ray had snapped back from his weird mood. They're gonna be alright.

 

\---

 

"Ray! Okay listen, I need to tell you something Michael told me and he said not to tell you but you need to know and I know you're not gonna like this but I had to call y'know?"

"Gavin, quit rambling and tell me straight up what he said," Ray says angrily. 

It's hard to figure out what his friend's trying to say around the word vomit he's covering the point in. When Gavin had first called him he'd been hesitant to pick up, but now he can sense the seriousness of the call.

"He's straight, Ray. I can send you the screenshots to prove it, but that's the way it always been, apparently. I asked him about you and he said you guys are just close but that... he's not into dudes," Gavin spills, chewing at his lip anxiously as he waits for Ray's answer.

"You're fucking joking," Ray says through the phone. His heart aches and he wants to cry. It's quiet on the other end of the line as Gavin shakes his head, frowning.

Ray has no clue what he wants to do with this information. Actually scratch that, he wants to cry. He won't, though because that's a pussy thing to do and Ray's seventeen years old, a pussy is the last thing he wants to be.

"I'm not. Sorry, mate," Gavin responds, jolting when the line goes flat. He pockets his phone and sighs. There's nothing more he can do for his friend. Just by making this call this he's compromising his relationship with the boy's crush. If Michael finds out he told Ray, his reputation will be ruined.

 

\---

 

Ray starts feeling more and more thankful for Ryan's company. The geek easily makes him forget about the boy who's mistreating him. He voices this to Gavin who asks Ray one night over skype if part of the reason he's spending so much time with Ryan is because Michael gets jealous. Ray doesn't have an answer, looking away from the camera and fixing his glasses.

He doesn't want to become the next Michael and hurt Ryan but he convinces himself that he's not using the boy. He likes hanging out with Ryan, that has to count for something.

It's only a night around a month later when Ray realizes his mistake.

They're sitting next to each other on Ray's bed when Ryan confesses to Ray that he has more than friendly feelings for him. Ray takes the time to process the words, takes the time to think about how great of a guy Ryan is and takes the time to figure out how he's gonna turn him down.

Ray is quiet, eyes looking around the room before he looks up at Ryan and opens his mouth. He realizes quickly that he can't find the right words, resting his lips together and deciding against what he was going to say.

"I know. Michael, right?" Ryan sympathizes.

If Ryan's being honest with himself, he's heartbroken. Although he had kind of been expecting this reaction, he had still hoped that maybe things would end in his favour.

Ray nods. 

Ryan is way too understanding.

"I can't help it," Ray whispers.

Ryan holds him tighter. He knows what it's like to love someone and have them not love you back.

 

\---

 

Ray finally snaps at Michael's antics, after weeks of weird behaviour from the other teen. Ray sends him an angry text for using him all this time and he can't sit still, anxious out of his mind. He's finally standing up for himself, far too late, in his opinion. Still, it's a start.

He finds himself staring at the screen long after the text is sent, leg bouncing up and down on the floor beneath him. The whole thing feels unhealthy and he needs to get out for a bit. 

Ray stands, holding the power button down on his phone until it's off completely, and heads for his bedroom door. His parents aren't home yet so he leaves them a quick note telling them where he'll be and then slips on his sneakers, bound in the direction of Ryan's house.

It's a risky move, showing up at Ryan's door without even checking to see if he's home first. He knocks twice, scuffing a shoe against the front porch. The door opens and thankfully it's Ryan, not one of his parents. 

Ray doesn't even bother hiding how frustrated he is. As if Ryan senses the discomfort, he steps aside and lets him in. Once they're behind closed doors, he starts talking.

"What's on your mind?" He asks, watching Ray pace around his room, rubbing his forearms anxiously. 

Listening as Ray spills his feelings about everything, possibly being gay, his feelings about being used and everything in between. Ryan sits quietly, taking in the slew of information being thrust at him, a lifetime's worth of pent up anger, it seems.

Ryan comforts him by reaching out to stop his fast steps, taking hold of both hands when Ray places them in his. He calmly pulls Ray close and guides him into the living room, offering him a seat beside him on the sofa. Ray sits but Ryan can tell his mind in still racing.

It's tense when Ray turns to ask Ryan something and realizes how close their faces are from the angle they're sitting. Ryan inhales softly and initiates the kiss while sitting even closer, their opposite legs and shoulders press together. It starts soft and sweet but progressively gets rougher when Ray reciprocates with teeth grazing Ryan's bottom lip. He pulls back quickly and assesses the situation.

Ray's eyes are just as wide as Ryan's, he's shocked by the kiss, but Ryan's eyes are that big for another reason. Ray had confessed he'd never kissed anyone before in his lengthy rant but he somehow knew exactly what he was doing. No way that's beginners luck.

"Ry, I don't want to make things awkward. You're a really good friend but I don't feel the same."

"I know," Ryan replies quickly, looking away and taking a deep breath. "But please," he whispers alongside an exhale. Leaning in again and pressing his lips to Ray's cupid's bow.

When he pulls back he expects to be let down again but Ray follows his body as he leans away, catching his lips between his own once more.

 

\---

 

Michael snaps after he gets the text from Ray, completely losing his cool, all alone in his room. It's been hours since he's checked his phone, having been out with friends all afternoon, but he doesn't care. Hitting Ray's name in his contacts with way too hard of a push, he watches the screen darken as the call tries to connect.

He doesn't make it past the voicemail, but the message he leaves is nothing compared to what he's gonna say to Ray in person. How dare he disrespect him with accusations like that?

If he were thinking more level headed, maybe he'd realize growling into the receiver might scare the boy off, but the only thing on his mind is how Ray would never say those words to him. The Ray he knows is calm and kind and passive, a major pushover.

The only explanation is Ryan, probably pushing the boy to say those things to him. It's practically a given, he's the only thing that's changed in he and Ray's life recently.

Michael shuts off his phone and throws it onto the bed, the rubber case causing it to bounce off the headboard and end up back at his feet. He picks it up again shoves it into his dresser, pulling out half of his folded tee shirts because why the fuck do they need so much space, they look better on the floor.

He shuts the drawer so hard the wooden entirety quakes and stands there watching it until it stops, fiddling with the watch around his wrist as he strips off his socks. Cigarettes, cigarettes, god where does he keep them again?

Michael fumbles around in the pockets of his jeans, tugging them off angrily when he can't find the packet, remembering only where he keeps his emergency pack and deciding to just use those. He kneels down and paws beneath his bed until his hands hit the box he's looking for, a four by four tin with a football on the top.

The lid is off in seconds and he's lighting a cig as quickly as he can, walking over to the window and opening it. He takes a couple of drags, attempting to cool down, for the time being. It's only a few minutes later that he's eyeing the zippo again, reaching out to it and playing with the handle.

His thumb slides across the top and the flame that comes out entices him. He looks through it and around his room for something he can burn. 

He wishes he owned a picture of Ryan.

 

\---

 

Ray wakes up the next morning, groggily trying to remember why he's on someone else's bed. He rolls over to find himself alone. A recurring theme, he figures. Thinking back to last night, he sits up and looks around... Ryan's room. Ah, okay, he can kind of piece things together.

He remembers the text to Michael and coming over to Ryan's. He must have fallen asleep on the couch after they... kissed. So Ryan probably carried him to the bedroom. He slides his legs over the side of the matress and pulls the covers back, checking for bottoms. Thankfully, his jeans and belt are still on. An assurance that nothing past some heavy petting went on last night.

Ray smiles softly as he heaves himself off the bed. Leave it to Ryan to be a gentleman.

 

\---

 

Nobody ever said Michael Jones was perfect, Ray knows this all too well. As much as he loves the boy, he has to admit something he's learned over the years. The soft hearted baby faced redhead he used to know is often replaced by the sharp jawed angry teen, prone to destructive behaviour when something doesn't go his way.

What Ray doesn't expect is Michael's anger boiling over to a physical point after school one day. 

Ryan is walking him home, zipping up an opened pocket on Ray's bag for him. One minute he's got his hand on the zipper of the bag and the next he's being tackled to the ground by someone jumping on his back. He falls forward at the sudden weight, hitting the cement but breaking the fall with his forearms.

"What the fuck?" Ray yells, dropping his bag. He looks down at the figure and groans when he realizes who it is. He reaches down and attempts to pull Michael off of Ryan.

The boy clings onto Ryan's form, pinning him down and pushing his head down onto the cement.

"Michael, stop! Get off of him," Ray tries again, hooking his leg under Michael's stomach. He's able to pry him off with a few kicks and some help from Ryan, who starts to stand.

Michael lands on his side and Ray immediately moves in between him and Ryan. A human separator, trying to stop the situation from escalating.

"You're fucking dead if you lay a hand on him, Jones," Ryan snarls from behind Ray. He raises a hand to his forehead, wiping some blood from a scrape.

Michael stands up, brushing off his clothes and looks around Ray, trying to meet the other boy's eyes. 

"I'd never lay a finger on Ray if he didn't want me to, but you seem to be all over him. Huh, Ryan?" Michael spits out the words in a venomous tone, saying Ryan's name like it's the worst thing in the world.

"Fuck off," Ryan replies, taking a step forward despite Ray's protests. "Ray can speak for himself. You don't own him."

At this, Michael finally looks to Ray, whose eyes are firmly planted on the ground, suddenly finding the pavement very interesting.

"I think you guys should talk this out," Ray bursts out, after a few seconds of silence. "I can't fucking stand this anymore."

He scoops up his backpack and pulls a pack of band aids from the front pocket. They scatter on the ground and he makes no move to pick them up, instead taking off down the street. His pace is fast and he doesn't turn around to check if either of them are making an attempt to stop him.

 

 

\---

 

 

 

The bell rings and Ray shuts his locker with his elbow. One arm is holding his books and the other is preoccupied, being hand in hand with Michael. They make it all the way to the door of Ray's class before Ryan rounds the corner, passing them in the small hallway without even turning his head. Ray knows it's because he's refusing to look at them specifically.

That and because he's hiding the bruise on his cheek, no doubt sore from the previous incident with Michael outside, just days ago. Ray had only seen it from a distance in class, wincing at the color. 

The second bell rings, signaling that everyone should already be at their first period class. 

Ryan keeps a steady pace and Ray can feel the disappointment oozing off of him like a bad smell.

A sharp tug pulls at Ray's heart. He feels like he's gonna throw up, bile rising in his stomach. He can't help the nagging feeling deep down that he's going to end up with a broken heart. Michael momentarily tightens his grip on Ray's hand and presses a kiss to his temple before running off.

Ray hangs his head.

Maybe this time it'll be different.

**Author's Note:**

> Basically I read a fic and listened to a song (Somebody Else by The 1975) on repeat so many times that this visualization came to mind and I couldn't ignore it.


End file.
